I think the first time I heard the rumor was on the internet. If you hang around local forums, your head gets stuffed with all sorts of rumors, a mix of truth and lies. Every single one of them is worthless. Buried among them was the rumor of the "Black Hand." "If you encounter the Black Hand, your wish will come true." "To do that, you must keep the Black Hand for one week." "No matter what happens." "Are you an idiot?" That was someone's verdict after I mentioned the rumor above. It's pretty disappointing when the master of the occult path says it that flatly. "Well, it's just a sub-species of chain letter. The part about 'no matter what happens' being emphasized just means something is going to happen during that week, right?" It was around the time chain letters were starting to become popular. It felt a little different from the standard templates like "If you don't do X, something bad will happen," so it left an impression on me, but the Master didn't seem to care much for this kind of thing. Still, for a while, the phrase "Black Hand" lingered in a corner of my mind. What set it apart from typical chain letters was its starting trigger. Not "If you read this email," but "If you encounter the Black Hand." In other words, you weren't forcibly required to follow the rules just by hearing about the story; the trigger was set separately. Even if you wanted to scare yourself, you couldn't meet that trigger. "If you encounter the Black Hand." I wanted to encounter it.
When I saw the sentence "I've obtained the Black Hand" on a certain thread, my heart raced. I was browsing a room I don't usually visit because it was a place where "local rumors" were discussed. It was all for the possibility that I might hear the rumor of the "Black Hand." I had been avoiding maniac occult forums because I felt they were a bit too low-brow for someone as immersed in it as me, but... Replies like "Show us, show us!" piled up, and after a while, there was a reply saying, "Alright." The person with the handle name "Onkyo" seemed to be an active type who had organized offline meetings a few times. With a post reading, "Well then, tomorrow Saturday at the usual place," the "Black Hand offline meeting" was decided. Being a newcomer, I hurriedly re-read the past logs to confirm that the "usual place" was a family restaurant in the city, and posted, "It's my first time, but is it okay if I come?" On the day of the meeting, I was nervous, partly because I wasn't yet used to these kinds of offline gatherings. I was late and dashed into the restaurant, only to find a group unified by the promised landmark—black hats—occupying a space in the back. I gave a casual "Hey," muttered a "Sorry," and took a seat, instantly feeling a strange awkwardness toward the faces lined up around the table. I had imagined it from seeing their posts online, but they were young. Probably all of them were around middle or high school age. Even though I had only recently been a high schooler myself, when people are one or two years younger, they feel like a completely different species. Since I'm bad at acting like a senior, I resolved not to let anyone find out I was older. "So, about this," With that, a girl who looked about 16 or 17, dressed entirely in black, pulled something like a box out from under her feet and placed it on the table.
"Ooh," voices rose. The girl with the handle name Onkyo pushed the box to the center of the table without a hint of hesitation. "I got it from a senior at school, but apparently, just holding it makes your wish come true. Does anyone want it?" Eh? She's just giving it away? The others were looking around at each other's faces. "Is the Black Hand really black? Like a mummy?" In a light tone, one of them reached to take the lid off the box. The moment he did, the long-faced girl with braided hair sitting directly to my right grabbed his hand with incredible force. "Stop it. This is dangerous." She was shaking her head with a serious look in her eyes. "Ouch, what's your problem? Why are you taking this so seriously?" He shook off her grip, glared at her, and pulled back his leaning body. After that, a sort of silence descended. "A spirit just passed by," Someone muttered, and someone else reacted with, "Eh, don't people usually say an angel passed by?" After a debate over "Spirits vs. Angels" continued for a while as if to look away from the box, Onkyo spoke up. "So, does anyone want it?" Silence again. Even though a bunch of people who loved this kind of stuff should have been gathered here, what is this pathetic display?
"If you encounter the Black Hand, your wish will come true." "To do that, you must keep the Black Hand for one week." "No matter what happens." Does this mean I'm too stupid to understand the meaning of this rumor? Well, that's only on the condition that this rumor is real, and the contents of this box are real. You spineless cowards. I am different. If you ask why people climb mountains, the obvious answer is because the mountain is there. "Can I have it?" Everyone looked at me, and then looked at Onkyo. "Sure. Cool. By the way, you take the box too. Apparently you aren't supposed to open it." Onkyo pushed the box toward me and grinned broadly. "You gotta hold onto it for a week, they say. But hey, maybe you can use it to buy a wedding ring or something." After that, we spent the time at the family restaurant in the lazy, meaningless, and trivial way typical of an offline gathering. No one touched upon the subject of the box. Even though they should have all come there for that very purpose. When the meeting broke up and I was leaving the shop hugging the box, the braided-hair girl sidled up to me. "Hey, you really shouldn't. That thing is genuinely dangerous." What's up with this girl? Playing the spirit-medium maiden? She forcefully pulled my ear close to hers and whispered. "You know, I can tell when people are pointing at me. Even from behind where I can't see them. Don't you ever get that feeling? In my case, when someone I hate points at me, I get this really awful sensation. And just now, when that box came out, I got the chills like never before. I've never felt anything like that."
Come to think of it, when the long box was placed on the table, one end of it had been pointing right at this girl. Was she trying to say that the Black Hand inside the box was pointing its finger? As I thought about this, the girl's strangely cold breath poured into my ear. "And you know what? The thing being pointed at isn't coming from the box. It's coming from behind you—by someone." Having said that, the braided girl caught her breath and fled as if running away. Left behind alone inside the shop, I stood frozen, still hugging the box. With a dry clack, the contents inside the box shifted position. I swallowed hard. What is this atmosphere? Am I going to regret this later? Suddenly feeling a gaze, I looked outside through the glass and saw Onkyo, dressed in a black one-piece dress, staring right at me from outside the shop.
By the time I made it back to my apartment room and looked at the box again, I was struck by an eerie sensation. The rumor of the Black Hand should have started only recently, but this box was old. Way too old. It was a soot-stained wooden box with an appearance that wouldn't even be out of place if an inscription were carved on the back. Is there really a Black Hand inside this? Generally, the rumors didn't mention anything about it being in a box. I felt as though I'd been played by that girl calling herself Onkyo. Still, she was cute, though. A grin involuntarily spread across my face. I couldn't help but suspect that people hadn't gathered today out of a love for the occult, but that at least the guys had participated just to see Onkyo. Otherwise, someone would have at least chanted to open it if they had all gathered because they wanted to see the Black Hand. I laid my hand on the lid of the box. At that moment, a swirling mixture of thoughts and emotions crossed my mind. Well, it doesn't have to be right now. I have a whole week, after all. In short, I chickened out. Placing the box on top of my bookshelf, I opened up the manga I had been reading halfway through.
Comments (-)